A terrible headache ... Will formatting remove a virus and all traces of win98 ?

[mullardel34]

I'm having an awful time getting a proper working installation of win98 onto a hard drive after a visit by an internet hacker. The problem has boiled down to these questions.

1) Does Windows 98 hide registry or hardware information somewhere on the hard drive where it will not be removed during formatting ?

2) Can a virus hide on the hard drive, escape formatting, and continue to play tricks with win98 ?

I formatted the entire WD-80GB drive, and no luck.
I wiped the drive, a lengthy process, still no luck.

-------------------------------------
When installing win98:

"setup", press Enter, Scandisk runs

Installation begins:

"Scanning system registry"
"Copying files needed for system setup"
-------------------------------------

Remark:

"Scanning system registry" ? ... After formatting, there shouldn't be any registry to scan. If something to scan, then I need to wipe it off the drive. Using setup switches has not helped.

:confused:

[GaryRouth]

Hi mullardel34

Actually, that message about scanning the Registry is just a standard part of Windows 98 Setup - it doesn't actually mean what it says during a clean install. If you were running an upgrade install, it would actually scan the existing Registry. The message shows even if there is no Registry present on the hard drive to scan.

The only way to be absolutely sure that nothing is left on a hard drive is to use the hard drive manufacturer's hard disk diagnostics tools to perform a "zero write", "zero fill", or "write zeroes to drive" (the wording is slightly different in different utilities). Nothing at all is left on the drive - nothing. Not even a rootkit can survive a zero-write, no virus, trojan, or worm can survive it. However, during the zero-write, and during any subsequent clean installation of Windows, the computer must stay completely disconnected from any networks, especially the Internet. And any personal data restored to the fresh installation should be scanned thoroughly before being reintroduced, or it can reinfect the system. Try to have a firewall and antivirus installed and active before reconnecting to any networks or to the Interet.

The DataLifeGuard utilities for Western Digital can do a zero-write. If you bought the drive yourself, a tool exists on the CD that can make a bootable DOS diskette that starts the diagnostics program automatically when the system is booted from that diskette.

The zero-write isn't entirely necessary, it's just for those cases in which you need to be ABSOLUTELY sure nothing is left on the drive. You've already reformatted, that takes care of most malware - the hard part is keeping them from coming back via disks or the Internet. Do run an antivirus scan as soon as possible after installing your antivirus scan, since some viruses can infect the Bios of the motherboard. These aren't as common nowadays, since most motherboards have utilities to protect the Bios from these attacks, if enabled. During the installation of Windows, in fact, this Bios antivirus protection has to be Disabled (it can then be re-enabled afterward) to allow Windows access during the install.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[mullardel34]

Thanks Gary.

I never thought about DataLifeGuard utilities, and I do have them, but used Iolo DriveScrubber to wipe the drive (a free download), checking off "write zeroes". The Bios anti-virus protection, has been ON, I have been afraid to disable it. But if this protection could become a source of trouble when installing win98, I should disable it.

Before wiping the drive, I ran several AV applications in Windows and DOS, but found nothing that would solve the problem. The Panda and Kaspersky anti-virus applications are now remarkable, the best I've seen, and I hope the trend continues.

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

Seems like you should be OK to finish a clean install, since you've already run a zero-write utility. Both of those antivirus/antispy tools you mentioned score well in industry tests (like those run by the cnet/znet sites), so if you have one of those running, plus a good firewall, you'll be ready to head to Windows Update to get the Security Patches after the clean install -->on broadband, it should hopefully take less than a half-hour to get caught up [most of that time is because of the rebooting necessary after some of the updates - and the necessary revisiting of the Windows Update sites to grab "updates for the updates" :) ]

Let us know if the install runs into any other obstacles.
. . . Gary